NASA will contract with Boeing for an interim cryogenic propulsion stage to power at least the first two flights of its planned heavy-lift Space Launch System.
A bid by SpaceX to carry out the first U.S. commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is unlikely to lift off May 7, the latest target launch date, according to the company. “SpaceX is continuing to work through the software assurance process with NASA,” according to a May 2 update from company spokeswoman Kirsten Brost Grantham. Earlier, the company slipped a planned April 30 liftoff to allow more time to work software flight-control issues for the planned 18-day test mission.
HOUSTON — Spaceflight brings a whole new meaning to dressing for success. An astronaut’s garments must be functional, yet as comfortable as possible, whether the flier is sealed inside a spacecraft or on a spacewalk. As NASA envisions a future of deep-space exploration and missions stretching from months to years, the list of wardrobe requirements soars as well.
BEIJING — China plans to add three more satellites to its Compass positioning system this year, following the successful launch of two sats by a single Long March 3B rocket on April 30.
LOS ANGELES — The Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office is pushing ahead with preparations for three more missions and continuing a key military utility assessment of the ongoing TacSat-4 tactical test spacecraft, despite uncertainty over its future after being zero-funded in the White House’s fiscal 2013 budget.
GOES-R: Lockheed Martin has completed the spacecraft critical design review for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series (GOES-R) satellite system that the company is building for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. “The team demonstrated that the design and operations are understood and sufficiently mature to begin the build and integration phase,” Lockheed said in a May 1 announcement. The first spacecraft in the next-generation weather satellite series is due for launch in 2015.
LOS ANGELES — Lockheed Martin is ramping up final assembly work on the flight test version of the Orion crew module as workers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) begin verification checks on the Orion ground test vehicle.
NEW DELHI — India plans to launch dedicated communication satellites for the Navy and Air Force between 2012 and 2014, Defense Minister A.K. Antony says. The naval satellite is planned to be launched in 2012-13, while the air force communication satellite is planned to be launched in 2013-14, Antony said in a written reply to a question in parliament on April 30.He also says that the tri-services defense communication network (DCN) is progressing as per India’s defense procurement procedures.
PARIS — French aerospace engine supplier Safran has finalized the merger of two subsidiaries, energy materials specialist SME and solid-propulsion-motor manufacturer Snecma Propulsion Solid (SPS), Paris-based Safran announced April 30.
SAN FRANCISCO — Far-infrared astronomy is not done from ground observatories and has only been possible from a few orbiting telescopes, so the addition of the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) to NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) will allow astronomers to fill a void. On April 19, NASA said it had selected two additional instruments to expand HAWC’s research range.
HOUSTON — A three-man, U.S. and Russian crew departed the International Space Station (ISS) early April 27, descending to Earth aboard their 28 Soyuz spacecraft for a safe ending to a 165-day mission that was marked by major hard- and software upgrades to the orbiting laboratory’s command and control functions as well as a rigorous research agenda.
NEW DELHI — India launched into orbit its first indigenous reconnaissance satellite Risat-1 on April 26, thereby joining a select group of nations that have access to microwave radar imaging from orbit. The 1,858-kg (4,100-lb.) satellite was put into a polar circular orbit at an altitude of 480 km (300 mi.) and an orbital inclination of 97.552 deg. early in the day by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C19 (PSLV-C19) from Sriharikota spaceport in south India.
Boeing is turning to the Mission Operations Directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to support the training for and early flight operations of the company’s seven-person CST-100 entrant in NASA’s Commercial Crew Development initiative.
Platinum and other valuables — including water — are driving space prospectors vying for the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize to design their vehicles to search the Moon’s surface for resources that could be sold in space or on Earth. Moon Express, a Lunar X Prize team spearheaded by Internet entrepreneurs Naveen Jain and Barney Pell, is working with NASA’s Ames Research Center on ways to seek and retrieve valuables like platinum, building on the California field center’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (Ladee).
SpaceX and NASA have agreed to delay the launch the first U.S. commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by one week from its original target of April 30, providing the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program participant more time to complete and follow up on hardware-in-the-loop software testing.
LOS ANGELES — Unexpectedly severe degradation of the protective aeroshell at speeds of up to Mach 20 most likely caused the loss last August of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) second Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2), according to a report produced by an independent engineering review board.
PUSHED BACK: SpaceX says it will not make the April 30 target for launching its first Falcon 9/Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station. “After reviewing our recent progress, it was clear that we needed more time to finish hardware-in-the-loop testing and properly review and follow up on all data,” the company says. “While it is still possible that we could launch on May 3rd, it would be wise to add a few more days of margin in case things take longer than expected.
An article in the April 16 issue (p. 44) incorrectly stated NASA's plans for launching cargo to the International Space Station. The agency plans to use commercial rockets for the missions.
